A Return Worth Waiting For
by WalkersMadHouse
Summary: Set a couple of months before the start of the series, Erza has come back from a year long trip. What does this trip do to her? Is she stronger? Is she a different person? Is it for a particular someone? Time to find out.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: This small story takes place a couple of months before the start of the main storyline (where Natsu meets Lucy). In this story, I'm making Natsu, since his age is never confirmed, the same as Gray's age (18). The main difference between the canon and this story is that Natsu is slightly smarter (still very impulsive), the other difference is Erza, she will be more open about herself and less strict of the rules, though her qualities of punishment and justice (and more) still remain.**

**Reference:**

**Talking - "Quotations"**

**Thinking - 'Contractions'**

**Flashback - _Italics_**

**Spells, Important people or objects - Bold**

_**A Return Worth Waiting For**_

_**Chapter 1**_

The sun shone brightly on this warm day with few clouds overhead. It wasn't too hot or too cold. Soft footsteps were heard along with the soft clanking of metal. A traveler now stood longing to return after the year long journey away. The figure stood overlooking Magnolia with the sun perfectly silhouetting the features of the traveler with the only distinguishable traits of this person being the long flowing hair, pieces of armor which mostly covering the shins, hands and arms, a skirt, and the feminine figure.

"How long has it been since I left, about a year?" The now identified female asked herself now trying to remember the reasoning for her departure.

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_**Flashback:**_

_**Year X783**_

_The place she called home was its normal rowdy self. Some people were drinking, others were chatting, some were on missions, and as normal, the two loudest ones were going at it._

"_Bring it on Flame-Brain!" a young muscular man with raven black spiky hair yelled._

"_You're going down Ice-Queen!" the man with rose colored hair insulted as 'Flame-Brain' yelled back. The room ominously began to change into a red and blue lighting as the magical power seemed to flow out of these two young people, as they charged each other._

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_Unbeknownst to them, a young woman with long flowing red hair and armor was casually walking to the building, lost in her thoughts. 'I'm thinking of taking some time away; a small training trip. I want to try and loosen up a bit and be more open to people. Should I take __**him**__ with me? No. He'll want to stay with his best friend.' Her thoughts ended there as she looked up revealing her brown eyes to see a geyser of fire jetting out one side the building and a pillar of ice sticking out the other._

_Her anger flared at the two's antics. 'Can't they go one day without trying to take each other down?!' she angrily thought as she stormed into to the place she called home._

_On looking the after math of the two young mages, the raven haired man lay in a smoldering mess twitching while the rose haired man fared no better. He was frozen comically in a block of ice with his eyes wide from the sudden cold he felt, which he rarely ever felt. The two in their state failed to notice a force of death walking in to see the two in their pitiful, yet humorous state._

_Everyone else stopped what they were doing and looked at who walked in, instantly paling and trying to do something productive, hoping to avoid invoking her wrath._

"_Just what do you two think you're doing?! I'm gone for two hours and you both are already going at it!? Can't you two get along for once!?" The infuriated female yelled, as both men, suddenly over their 'states' buddy up to each other without a care in the world that they were at each other's throats just minutes before, mostly to avoid getting their asses kicked by the infuriated redhead._

"_E-E-E-rza!?" They both stuttered in absolute fear that they were caught fighting._

"_Y-your're back already!?" The rose haired mage squeaked._

"_Yes Natsu, I'm back 'already'. I said I would be back soon." The woman now identified as Erza replied._

_However, before Erza could think about delivering her punishment to both the man named Natsu and his friend/enemy, someone called out to Erza._

"_Hey Erza! What's that you're carrying?" A middle age blue haired man hollered out._

"_Oh, you mean this?" She replied pulling the brown object from her left arm. "It's a cloak I picked up Macao. It brings me to an announcement I wish to make. Listen up everyone! In case you didn't just hear me, I bought this cloak." Everyone just deadpanned as she basically hollered back to Macao before that, therefore everyone heard her. "I plan on taking a lengthy trip." Erza continued._

"_What for?" The raven hair man asked as it was unusual for him to hear Erza say anything about taking a trip, especially a lengthy one._

"_That Gray, is because I feel I want to go away and train for a while" Erza lied to Gray. In reality, she just felt the need to do some changing up. She felt she was way too closed up and strict to those she cared about and wanted to do something about that. She wanted to be able to be open up with those she called family. Gray felt something was up, but dropped it in fear of being pummeled. _

"_WHAT!?" Natsu yelled. "What about our match!?" he continued screaming._

"_We never had a scheduled match Natsu." Erza deadpanned. "But the matter is, I'll be away for some time. I'll see you guys all later" Erza quickly rushed to leave, not wanting to let everyone wring out her true motives for leaving._

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**Flashback End**

In truth, Erza did feel kind of bad just leaving out of the blue, despite quickly announcing it and leaving real shortly afterwards. Despite so, she is coming home today to Fairy Tail, the guild that is her one and only true home. She was quite nervous to show herself, yet kind of excited to see how the guild will react to her change. Over the year she was gone she became somewhat laid back, more open, and more caring; even no longer constantly wearing her signature Heart Kreuz armor. Though in this case, she is wearing it for the sake of nostalgia; even then, only wearing bits and pieces. Anxious to see her friends and family, the 19 year old quickly took off on the homestretch to the town.

_**And that ends the first part of this little story. Feel free to leave a comment. See you later!**_


	2. Chapter 2

**_Author's Note: Truth be told, I was going to make this story one big chapter, but I decided that I kind of wanted to publish what I had and simply broke into chapters. Mostly to see if people will even like what I write._**

**Reference:**

**Talking - "Quotations"**

**Thinking - 'Contractions'**

**Flashback - _Italics_**

**Spells, Important people or objects - Bold**

**_A Return Worth Waiting For_**

_**Chapter 2:**_

The streets of Magnolia were quite empty despite it being rather late in the morning, around 10 am last she checked. Despite so, Erza quietly giggled to herself as to how her guild mates will react to the contrast of her personality of before and after she left.

Quickly drawn from her thoughts, Erza swore she heard a voice that she remembered, yet seemed deeper than she remembered.

"HAPPY! Give me back that fish! I caught it fair and square!" Erza quickly covered her face with the cloak she wore, now remembering who the voice belonged to. It was Natsu chasing his best friend which was a blue furred flying cat.

"But I didn't catch one and you woul-*splat*" Happy made the fatal mistake of looking back at the wrong moment, smashing right into Erza despite her attempts to remain out of the way and inconspicuous under her cloak.

'There goes my surprising **him.**' Erza sullenly thought as she knelt down. "You ok?"

"A-aye sir!" The cat with stars in his head slowly replied.

"Damn it Happy! Give me that fish back!" Natsu yelled before he saw his blue haired friend on the ground with a cloaked figure kneeling next to him with the fish in the person's hand.

"Get away from Happy and give me that fish back!" Natsu angrily yelled charging the cloaked person igniting his magic. "FIRE DRAGONS…."

Erza, despite her change, still retained much of her old qualities, and instantly reacted with an elbow to Natsu's face, effectively stopping him and his attack in mid air. "You never change do you?" Erza said with a small smile on her face.

Natsu could have sworn he knew the owner of this voice but his mind was clouded by his annoyance of easily being brought to the ground by this unknown person. He jumped up and tried again to attack the person. Erza expertly dodged the attack, but the damage was already done. Her hair was spilling out of the hood she wore to hide her appearance from her teammates.

Natsu's eyes widened when he saw the hair, and slowly pieced everything together. The voice, the armor on the arm used to elbow him, the scarlet red hair. "Are you….E-E-Erza?!" Natsu stuttered.

Seeing her cover was blown, she slowly grabbed the hood and pulled it down, revealing her face to her teammate. "Yes. " She replied smiling.

Before Natsu could fully process this information, he was tackled into a hug by the scarlet haired woman. "I'm so glad to be back;" Erza said, enjoying that she was reunited with one of her childhood friends, "and this time, I'm not leaving again."

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"Natsu, can you do something for me?" Erza said as she and Natsu (Happy was left forgotten on the ground) were walking down the street; Erza, once again wearing the hood to cover her face.

"Sure thing Erza!" Natsu exclaimed happily, prepared to do almost anything for his family.

"Shhh! Keep it down! I want to keep the fact that I'm back a surprise until I get to the guild. I want to see everyone's reactions. As well as punish them if I catch them doing anything bad." Erza muttered the last part so Natsu wouldn't hear, "So anyways, go to the guild first and try to act like you have since I left and I'll be there shortly afterwards."

"I was just going to recommend just barging in there with you, but okay." Natsu shrugged. He may not be the smartest person, but he knew not to make Erza mad. Oh how he didn't know some of the changes she went through.

"Thanks you so much!" Erza excitedly cheered and went off in a different direction to wait for Natsu to enter the guild then go in shortly after him.

'Odd, she seems more…girly than I last remember. Ah well.' Natsu thought as he started to venture towards the guild until he realized he forgot Happy.

"Gah! HAPPY! WHERE ARE YOU!?" Natsu rushed off to find his friend while Erza, not so far away giggled at his antics.

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It was around noon in the guild hall. It was as typical as a normal day would get despite one thing. Natsu and Gray weren't fighting. Natsu knew that soon, Erza would come in and didn't want to get pummeled into mush despite his high temptation to start a round of violence with Gray.

The guilds waitress and bartender, a young white haired beauty, was idly cleaning glasses while serving drinks and food to her customers until she called out to a certain rose haired mage.

"Natsu! Your food's done!" the bartender called out to him, setting down a plate of meat engulfed in fire.

Natsu drooled before rushing to gulp it all down. "Thank Mira!" He said, happily chomping down the food at an inhuman rate. At around the same time, the guild doors opened up revealing Erza clad in a cloak, covering her face. Everyone looked up and stared but Natsu, as he expected this, and even if he did not, he recognized the smell.

Gray, still annoyed at Natsu's attempts to dissuade a fight with him promptly greeted "Who the hell are you!?" without thinking much of who was behind the disguise.

Erza just stood there and laughed to herself, which Gray took as an insult and immediately rushed her.

'Why does this seem familiar?' Erza thought idly as she dodged Grays punch. 'Ah yes, Natsu. Let's try to keep the hood this time' she continued her thoughts as she jumped over a sweeping kick.

Gray now infuriated at how his 'opponent' was toying with him activated his magic. "**Ice make: Hammer!**" He yelled and brought down the hammer onto Erza, with the area erupting in smoke.

As the smoke cleared, the guild watched as it revealed Gray out cold with a few minor cuts and major bruises and the remnants of a sliced up ice hammer lying around with a still cloaked Erza standing over him holding her sword.

"You know. In my travels, I found it more troublesome to announce the attack and magic you're using against an enemy; especially if said enemy has the capabilities to both comprehend and react to what you say before you can land the attack." She harshly said as she sent her sword back into its pocket dimension. Some of the smoke still blowing away with the cloak moving enough to reveal some of the armor she wore.

The entire guild stared at disbelief as this now identified cloaked female single handedly took down Gray, one of their stronger mages, with ease.

"Oh my!" Mira covered her mouth at the destruction that happened so fast, and the fact that Gray was already down.

Natsu, long done with his food, looked over; growing tired of Erza's games and hollered, "Okay Erza! We get it, you're back!"

Erza just frowned and pouted "Natsu! You're no fun!" She said while crossing her arms over her chest.

"EHH!?" The whole guild went wide eye and froze at not only Erza being back, but the fact that Natsu knew who she was already.

Erza deciding the cloak was no longer necessary discarded it, letting the whole guild look upon her. Natsu simply got up and waved his hand in front of numerous guild members, not getting a single reaction out of any of them.

"It looks like they are either very shocked or very scared." Natsu took note.

"I'm willing to say a bit of both." Erza added. "As it seems they won't be responding anytime soon, want to go get something to eat and catch up?" She offered with a hint of excitement.

"Alright! You pay! I'm ALL FIRED UP!" Natsu declared and ran full blast out of the guildhall despite not knowing where to go eat at.

Erza not noticing Natsu's vigor failed to see him leaving already "Eh!? Natsu wait up!" and chased after him. Unknown to them, a lone two people watched this play out.

"It would seem those two are particularly different around each other." Mira said to the small person sitting on the bar counter

"No. Natsu is the same. It's Erza who's acting different. That year away must have done something to her. She seems more open and carefree." The small old man stated

"Isn't that good master? She was always so confined by what other people thought of her and so strictly set to the rules. It's good to see her opening up to other people." Mira replied

"I guess so. Either way, it will be interesting to see how this plays out. Now, may I have another drink?" 'Master' asked.

_**And there we go. Feel free to leave a comment if you wish. I am open to suggestions, but no guarantees on whether or not I use them.**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**I find it funny how basically a year ago, I was reading a lot of Natsu x Erza stories and was like "I wish I could write like that" and thought it would be hard, now I'm doing this and it's not all that hard. Rather easy. Time consuming sometimes, but easy. Only "hard part" is just trying to convey the ideas.**_

**Reference:**

**Talking - "Quotations"**

**Thinking - 'Contractions'**

**Flashback - _Italics_**

**Spells, Important people or objects - Bold**

_**A Return Worth Waiting For**_

**_Chapter 3_   
**

Erza was desperately trying to catch up with Natsu, running at break neck speed. The poor fool had no idea where she wanted to go eat. Hell, many places banned her from eating there due to her behavior in the past.

"NATSU! WAIT UP!" Erza yelled hoping he would stop or at least slow down despite her gaining on him.

Eventually Erza got close enough to grab his hand and jerked him back, making Natsu lose footing on the ground and come falling to the ground, accidentally taking Erza down with him.

Erza, barely registered how close their faces were before she jumped on her feet, with a heavy blush shown on her face, somehow already missing the closeness between the two. Natsu however, was too focused on the pain rather than how close two were. He looked up and noticed a shade of red on Erza's cheeks.

"Erza, are you sick? You're red in the face." Natsu asked, genuinely concerned for his friend.

"W-what?! N-n-no, I'm fine." Erza stuttered, clearly uncomfortable and embarrassed about the current situation she was in. "C-come on, let-" She was cut off when Natsu put his hand to her forehead.

"Are you sure you're alright? You're burning up." Natsu once again asked, not noticing the affect of his actions on the red head; her face now matching the color of her hair.

"Y-yes! I'm fine!" Erza jerked away quickly trying to dissuade Natsu from inspecting her 'health' anymore.

"Ah. Fine. Let's go." Natsu said rather confused. 'When did Erza become embarrassed about something?' He thought as he and Erza started walking around trying to find a suitable restaurant.

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The walk between them was near silence. Erza on one hand had no idea what to say and didn't want to embarrass herself in front of '**him'** again. Natsu on the other hand, wanted to wait until they were eating or after they were done. Shortly, they eventually found a restaurant in which both of them were able to enter, and proceeded to do so.

"Good morning madam and sir! What can I get for you today?" The waiter asked them with enthusiasm. Whatever it was, it seems the waiter was in a good mood today, he was mistaking Erza and Natsu for a young couple, or perhaps both

"I would like two fish." Natsu unsurprisingly ordered.

"And how about you madam, what would you like?" The Waiter then asked

"Actually, I'll just share what he has." Erza replied, making Natsu curious.

'Odd. She normally only orders her strawberry cake, so why has that changed?' Natsu wondered.

"I shall return shortly then." The waiter slightly bowed and walked away.

After the waiter was gone, Natsu finally decided to bring up something that was bugging him. "So why did you leave?"

Erza was taken aback by this. He seemed rather blunt, serious, and rather intelligent about the matter. Something she was not accustomed to seeing Natsu like. "I-I told you. I wanted to take some time off to train away." She replied. She hated lying. Despite her goal to open up, she still found it hard to speak about matters she found embarrassing.

"Erza, I know you've done some changing in this last year. I've changed as well. I know there's more to it than you wanting to train." Natsu's tone grew harsh making Erza flinch slightly.

"Is that so?" Erza hung her head. "I've become predictable."

"Now now. It's not a bad thing. I'm just tired of you not telling me everything." Natsu gave a soft smile as Erza looked up at him. "We're family Erza, and family deserve to know what's going on so we can help each other out."

That statement there, earned Natsu a smile from Erza. It's rare for people to get a genuine smile out of gratitude from Erza. "Thanks Natsu. Alright I'll explain." And for the next 15 minutes while waiting for their food, Erza told him the real reason behind her departure, but left out the bits that involved him. She wanted to tell him when she felt it was right to do so.

"I see." Natsu stated plainly "Well that's good for you Erza! I'm glad you're finally able to open up around people more." Natsu continued giving his signature grin.

"Now that you mention it," Erza started, "you said you've changed yourself. That much is clear as I've noticed that you've become more keen in your observation that people might be hiding something and there is surely more than that, but what brought that change?"

"Well, after you left I felt kind of lonely. Sure Gray was there to always fight me, but we never fought in a way to test our limits. You were the one I'd go to most often to fight, mostly because Gildarts is never around and Laxus just ignores me. So once you left. I tried to better myself as a person somewhat, starting by trying to learn more and become somewhat smarter. I'm still below the norm though." Natsu explained. In that brief moment, Erza also realized his humility, taking note that he as matured overall as well.

"You're food is done madam and sir." The waiter returned carrying two sizable plates, each with a rather big fish on it.

"Ah. Thank you!" Surprisingly, it wasn't Erza that said it; Natsu did. 'He also learned manners? How better can this get?' Erza excitedly thought.

Erza was slightly disappointed, but none the less surprised that Natsu gobbled down all the fish to where she only got a couple of bites of food.

"Ah! That was good! Thanks Erza!" Natsu happily said not noticing Erza comically drooling on the table in due to lack of filling her stomach with food.

"Would you like to order some dessert or are you ready to pay now" The waiter who suddenly appeared asked.

'Let's test something out real quick' Natsu quickly thought

"No tha-" Erza began.

"Actually. I would like to order something" Natsu cut her off as he whispered what he wanted into the waiter's ear, causing Erza to raise an eyebrow. The waiter then left to go get the dessert made which left Natsu with a rather curious Erza.

"Ah, don't worry Erza. I'm paying for this one." Natsu said to her, thinking he actually made her annoyed that he was buying dessert on her money.

"What did you buy?" Erza inquired.

Natsu couldn't help but let his mischievous side temporarily take over. "I'm not telling. You'll find out soon."

"Natsu! Tell me!" Erza yelled comically while flailing her arms

"Then beg!" Natsu replied laughing while Erza began pouting which aroused the attention of some people in the restaurant who then started to laugh at this 'lovers quarrel'.

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To say Erza was curious would be an understatement. She thought Natsu was ordering dessert, not a box of whatever it was to-go, let alone a rather large box. Natsu paid for his 'box' as the two were leaving.

"Please come again!" the person at the front desk of the restaurant said with the waiter who severed the two standing besides her.

"We will!" Both of them yelled back at the same time.

The trip back to the guild seemed to go by fast. Both Natsu and Erza were chatting about what went on in the last year, what to do next, should the two form a team for missions and so on.

After entering the doors, it seemed everyone had questions for Erza, and was swarmed. In that particular moment, Natsu snuck away to a farther back table in the guild to open the box. A box that was revealed to be strawberry cake which was (or still could be) Erza favorite thing to eat.

"Erza come here!" Came the voice of the white haired bartender. Erza approached her and slowly noticed a mischievous look on her face. "So did you two do anything with each other?" She inquired.

Erza so far, not catching her meaning replied, "We simply went to go eat somewhere."

"No. I mean did you **DO **anything?" Mira's mischievous grin widening.

Erza, was starting to turn red, as she figured out what Mira was implying. A massive blush appeared on her face when she thought of what she and Natsu could have done. They could have went to a room, a full blown make out session starts happens, off come the clothes, and… Erza was so red at this point. However, it immediately disappeared when she spotted Natsu with cake; not just ordinary cake. Her favorite cake. Strawberry cake.

At first, Erza was happy that Natsu bought her cake until she noticed something, a fork, a plate, and a stuffed mouth. "NATSU! YOU BOUGHT STRAWBERRY CAKE AND DIDN'T TELL ME OR AT LEAST SHARE!?" Erza raged comically. Unfortunately for her, Natsu was nearing the end of the cake.

"Oh? You want some? Then be-" Natsu was cut off by a sword embedding itself right next to his head in the wall, instantly making the smirk that was his lips disappear into complete shock. Everyone including Natsu froze in shock at this. Rule of thumb in the guild: **Never mess with Erza's cake.**

Eventually Natsu got over his shock and shrugged, "Well I guess since you're going to be mean about it, you don't get any." He bluntly stated as he brought the last piece of cake towards his mouth

Erza's mind went into overdrive. She desperately wanted that cake. She without thought rushed Natsu at speeds she couldn't believe she could run at. Despite these great speeds, it wasn't enough. Natsu was already happily chomping down on the last of his cake, confirming his little test. 'Yep she still adores her strawberry cake.' he thought idly.

The situation soon turned comical as Erza comically cried while violently shaking Natsu. "You didn't save any for me!?"

'Ok, that's enough teasing now, time for me to do **it**.' Natsu thought. "Man Erza, did you really think I'm that mean?" He asked rather seriously, startling Erza by his sudden seriousness.

Natsu soon pulled a box out from under the table, the same kind of box that the cake he was just eating came in. "Here. I got you some."

Erza opened the box, and her face suddenly lit up like a little school girl. In the box was the other half of the big cake Natsu was just eating. Her excitement was soon replaced by confusion. "I thought you ate the cake. How did you get it into another box?"

"When I was whispering to the waiter, I asked him to double box the cake, and split the cake itself into half; so as you were talking to Mira, I promptly put half into the second box and hid it under the table and started eating the other half."

Erza, accepting the explanation as well as dismissing why he may have done that, turned her attention to the box. The box that contained strawberry cake. Her **favorite** cake.

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Natsu has seen Erza do some really weird things. Some including today, others include the things they did as kids, but never has he seen Erza do anything so horrifying to the cake she loves so much. It was mind scaring. In the brief moment it took her to 'devour' the cake, she seemed to become a red headed demon. Cake went everywhere. The table, the floor, some nearby guild members, and Natsu who got a nice chunk on his face.

Natsu didn't respond to the cake on his face as both he and the rest of the guild were trying to comprehend what Erza was doing to that poor cake.

"Ah! That was good. Thanks for buying me the cake Natsu." Erza contently sighed breaking Natsu out of his stupor as he noticed Erza licking her fingers trying to rid herself of the pieces of cake littering her face and fingers. "Oh! You got some cake on your face Natsu." She pointed out.

"Huh?" Natsu turned his head to Erza not yet aware he had cake on his face, but was quickly shocked when Erza brought her hand to his face and wiped away the cake and then proceeded to eat it.

"What was that for!?" Natsu questioned loudly, rather dumbfounded.

"I just said their was cake on your face. I was not about to let it go to waste, especially since you bought it for me." Erza just pouted comically.

"Eh, whatever. By the way, since it's been a while, want to go on a mission with me?" Natsu asked, rather hoping to both get out of this situation and to go have some adventure with his childhood friend.

"Sure!" Erza face lit up somewhat, wondering how strong he got since she left. Despite her pummeling him into the ground a couple hours ago, she figured he didn't go all out to someone who may or may not have been able to defend themselves from him.

After taking a quick glance at the mission board, Natsu did not find one that really sparked his interest. He then turned to Erza. "Hey Erza, would you happen to mind taking a S-Class mission that won't take too long or difficult?"

'Is he an S-Class mage as well now or is just strong enough to be one?' Erza thought intently. "Uh, let me give it a quick look real quick."

It didn't take long before Erza found one, oddly enough, it didn't really seem qualified to be an S-Class mission. "I found one!"

"Let me see!" Natsu took the paper and gave it a look. "What the hell? A group of Vulcans not far from here are attacking campers in the woods? 800,000 jewels. Why is that an S-Class mission?"

"I don't know, but regardless let's try to stay on guard just in case." Erza noted rather seriously. "Mira! I'm taking this mission," while holding up the paper showing it to the bartender, "and I'm taking Natsu here with me."

"Alright then. Try not to have too much **Fun** with Natsu and be careful!" The white haired woman playfully teased, well aware of how Erza would interpret it.

Gray, who was miraculously recovered from his beat down, overheard what Erza had said. "Wait! Why are you taking this idiot!? I should be the one to go! Not him!"

Erza's face was overshadowed, and darkly turned to Gray. "Are you really going to complain about who I choose to go on a mission with me?" Gray's face paled. "Especially when that person is basically a childhood friend who's always been with me?" Gray shriveled down in fear as Erza's town grew harsher and darker. "Now let me be clear on this. I'm taking Natsu on this mission and **ONLY **Natsu got it!?"

Gray who was comically a miniature version of himself was violently shaking his head up and down to hopefully not get the beating of his life. "Yes ma'am!"

Erza then all of a sudden returned to her content smile that she should finally go on a mission after being away for so long, a mission where she was going with **him**. "Alright, we should be back in a day or so. Let's go Natsu!"

"W-wait! You're not going to pack your luggage?" Natsu questioned. It's was off character for her **not **to over pack for even the simplest of missions.

"We're only going to be gone a day. Two at most. Nothing to worry about. Besides, I don't think there are many creatures that can take me and you on at the same time." Erza nonchalantly replied.

"Uh, ok." Natsu was surprised by her compliment that with him working with her, they could overcome just about anything. "Let's go!"

**_That is the end of this chapter. As I said earlier, this was originally going to be a 1 chapter one-shot. Now it's more like a story. If people like this story. I will have it continue on into the main story where Natsu and Erza are Paired up. Anyways I hope to have a chapter up sometime soon. I'm only done with school. Then it's only graduation and parties to attend then I'm done._**


	4. Chapter 4

**So here is the 4th chapter to this small story. I am finally done with school and all the celebration that came with it. So I have roughly 3-4 months of really doing nothing other than working a part time job. I kind of feel like some parts of this chapter feel a bit rushed, but that may just be me.**

**Reference:**

**Talking - "Quotations"**

**Thinking - 'Contractions'**

**Flashback - _Italics_**

**Spells, Important people or objects - Bold**

**_A Return Worth Waiting For_**

**_Chapter 4_**

_**Time Skip 1 ½ days**_

It was a rather nice night. A night where the moon shone enough to where one could see where he/she was going without having to worry about walking into something. A night where the light breeze of the soft wind made it feel very refreshing. This night, despite having all these qualities, was not a night to be thoroughly enjoyed. Two figures walked through the woods near the edge of town, one leaning on the other's shoulder.

As the two figures walked from the shade into the moonlight their features were revealed to be a rose haired young man and scarlet red haired woman. The man's shirt being absent, apparently lost in the issuing battle beforehand, and both his sandals missing. Though somehow the scarf remained in place around his neck, unscathed. The scarlet haired woman faired better, not visually messed up but simply exhausted with a few scrapes and bruises here and there. She was simply wearing a white shirt and blue skirt as she forgone wearing her armor after making her appearance at the guild.

"Ugh. I really am sorry about this Erza. It was wrong of me to ask you to find us a S-Class mission to go on." The rose haired man humbly apologized.

"No. It's not you're fault Natsu. It's not like you could have expected a couple dark mages to appear and throw you on transport to take advantage of your motion sickness while you were focusing your attention on the Vulcans. Besides, if only I would have properly prepared for this mission, then you wouldn't have been this injured."

"Yeah. I really should fix this weakness of mine. It seems to hinder me more often than not." Natsu lamented.

"Hey. What's this? It's not like you to beat yourself up over something you had little to no control over." Erza berated.

"Eh. Well, what's done is done. By the way, where are we? I kind of zoned off for a bit." Natsu curiously asked.

"If memory serves me right, I believe we are not far from Fairy Hills now." Erza replied

"That means I still have to go to the other side of town to get to my place." Natsu hung his head. His suffering would have to last a bit longer before he could crash in bed.

"Well, y-you know I could let you stay at m-my place." Erza stuttered, her cheeks turning slightly pink. Thankfully it was night so it was unnoticeable in the current lighting.

"Thanks for the offer, but I recall that men aren't allowed there." Natsu responded

"I believe in this case, there can be an exception. Nothing is open at the moment, the situation is rather urgent, and my place is closer. Also, I can treat your wounds at my place." Erza quickly stated. She didn't have what Mira had in mind for Natsu, but she was genuinely concerned for him and wanted him to rest and recover, and in this case it was to be at her place.

"T-thanks Erza. You're a great friend. I-I really mean it." Natsu thanked rather genuinely. Becoming rather embarrassed at the prospect of staying the night at Erza's place.

The rest of the walk was in silence. Natsu was trying to ignore the pain coming from his wounds and Erza was trying to concentrated on keeping him up while trying to keep the strength up to keep walking.

They soon arrived at the dormitory, what Natsu didn't expect was that Erza would literally drag him up all the flight of stairs to her room.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

About fifteen minutes later, Erza had finished bandaging Natsu, which was a good portion of his midsection.

"Ah, finally done. I'm tired." Erza yawned.

"Well, I should be getting to bed as well." Natsu said as he begun to lay on the floor.

"Why are you sleeping on the floor Natsu? It's rather rude of me to invite you to stay here and making you sleep on the floor." Erza asked both concerned and annoyed that he maybe didn't like her.

"What? N-no no. You're not technically making me sleep on the floor. I just didn't want to intrude in on your bed anyways. Besides I always slept on the ground when I was living with Igneel." Natsu frantically replied thinking he may have made her mad.

"Come on Natsu. I insist." Erza said with a sly smile. She really enjoyed how he always thought of others before himself, though it tend to make him suffer. "If anything, this is a lot better than what we used to do." She continued, remembering when she used to bath with him when they were younger.

Natsu eventually gave into Erza's request and joined her in bed not aware of what sharing a bed with a female **normally** meant. Erza silently laughed at how the moment he got on the bed he crashed face first into the sheets and fell asleep. She then closed her eyes and let sleep overcome her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_**The following day**_

It was about nine in the morning. The guild was it's rowdy self except the young bartender was talking to the raven haired man, the middle aged blue haired man and the elder master of the guild.

"I'm kind of worried about those two. I figured they would have been back by now, if not last night." The blue haired man expressed his concerns.

"Now now . Let us have faith in Natsu and Erza's ability to do a mission such as the one they took. Natsu even asked for Erza to pick one that wouldn't be particularly long or difficult. They are probably just taking their time to catch up and head back." The old man said.

"Hmph. I bet the Flame-Brain messed up the mission, got himself beat up, and is getting punished by Erza." The raven haired man mumbled. He didn't show it, but he cared for the two.

"I think Erza is just trying to have some **Fun** with Natsu. She hasn't seen him in almost a year. Those two were always close." The white haired bartender put her two cents in with a coy smile on her face.

Macao and the Master caught the hint and had a perverted grin on their faces. 'Lucky bastard.' they thought

Gray however, didn't catch the hint. He just grunted and went back to eating his breakfast as the doors flew open to reveal Natsu (still with some bandages on him) and Erza besides him.

"WE'RE BACK!" Natsu hollered enthusiastically.

"Welcome back you two!" The bartender greeted.

"You look like you got your ass kicked Flame-Brain." Gray insulted while noticing the bandages on Natsu

Erza just glared at Gray. "I believe you meant to say, 'It looks like you got injured' Gray."

Gray just paled but Mira spoke up. "So did you guys just get back?"

"Actually we finished last night, but as we were taking care of the Vulcans, Natsu was ambushed by two wandering dark mages and by the time we got back everything was closed and he couldn't get treated." Erza explained.

"Yeah so Erza just let me crash at her place after she bandaged me up since my place was on the other side of the city." Natsu finished with a toothy grin.

A squeal was heard from Mira who then continued "Erza! How could you woe our innocent Dragon Slayer into your room for the night you sly devil you. Even more so considering how Fairy Hills is an all girls dormitory!" She teased.

Erza's face quickly matched her hair color. "WE DID NOT DO ANYTHING! I WAS JUST BEING A GOOD FRIEND AND NOT MAKING HIM GO ACROSS TOWN IN HIS PRESENT STATE!" Erza desperately explained. She was telling the truth but the way she was expressing herself made Mira think differently.

By now everyone in the guild was listening in on the conversation, some giving jealous looks to Natsu at the possibility that he bedded Erza.

Natsu on the other hand, had yet to catch on to what they meant by Erza taking him into her room for the night; but then it clicked. Natsu quickly went red.

"We did not do anything! I swear! After she bandaged me up I fell asleep. I did not do anything to her!" Natsu yelled out hoping to break the embarrassing situation he and Erza were placed in. Perhaps it wasn't such a good idea to announce he stayed at Erza's place or better yet, to have stayed their at all.

"Hah! I knew it! She's too good for you!" Gray laughed at Natsu.

"Gray. Your clothes." A beautiful brunette who seemed to enjoy wearing what seemed to be a bikini for a regular shirt pointed out between gulps out of a barrel of alcohol.

"Huh? Not again!" Gray exclaimed as he looked down to notice he was indeed missing his clothes and was once again in only his boxers. Due to his confusion, he failed to see both an infuriated redhead and rose haired pair hit him with full force. The resulting impact sent him out the building and disappear as a twinkle on the horizon.

"She is / I am not too good for me/him!" They both yelled at Gray before he disappeared from view.

Everyone just froze and stared in shock at what they just saw. It wasn't the fact that Gray was sent flying. It was the fact that both Natsu and Erza were the ones who did it. Mira, who wasn't too overly shocked by the pair's actions, was able to more clearly comprehend what the two blurted out without thinking.

Her everlasting smile quickly turned into a **very** mischievous grin.

Both the rose haired man and scarlet haired woman felt a chill go down their spines, yet, they were not able to think of who caused it before a voice called out.

"So you two are back." a small old man commented.

Natsu turned around and noticed the old man. "You bet gramps!"

"Good. I want to see you two in my office." He grew serious and turned away.

_**A few minutes later**_

"So Natsu, how was your first mission with Erza since her return?" Makarov asked.

"It was great! Just like old times!" Natsu cheerily replied. "If possible I want to be able to go with her on missions more." He added.

"Would that be a problem for you Erza?" The guild master questioned.

"Actually, I quite enjoyed his company on the mission, and while he was injured, it was not exactly his fault. So, I quite like the idea of him joining me for more missions."

"Now that you brought it up, what happened to Natsu here?" Makarov replied genuinely curious as to who actually injured one of the guilds top members.

"Basically in the middle of fighting the Vulcans, some wandering dark mages happened by, recognized Natsu, and decided to ambush him by taking hold of his weakness to transportation. I shamefully failed to notice as I was concentrated on fighting off the Vulcans." Erza hung her head at the last part.

"Now now child. Not everyone is perfect. You can't expect yourself to do everything." Makarov wisely explained.

A small silence was ensued until Natsu finally broke it.

"Well, if there is not anything else. I'm heading home." He waved as he turned to the door of the office to walk out.

"Very well. You may leave." Makarov stated.

"Natsu, need me to accompany you? You're still injured." Erza asked worriedly.

"Nah, I'm fine. I'm basically all healed up. I feel like I can take on the world right now!" Natsu replied with his signature grin.

"Oh really?" Erza face became overshadowed followed by a very sly smirk. "You think you can take me on then?" She then asked as her town grew darker, yet more mischievous.

Natsu, who realized what was about to happen, made a break for the door. However, he was not slow enough. Erza tackled him and sent them both crashing through the door.

"GOD DAMMIT! That was the third door this month!" Makarov yelled out in rage. "Why can't anything stay intact around here for longer than one day?!"

**This ends chapter 4. I kind ran myself into a corner here. I made it where I lack some ideas, mostly towards the end of the chapter, as I noticed it seem rushed. Any who, as always, tell me what you think by giving a review, and if you want, leave a suggestion. I shall see you all later.**


	5. Chapter 5

**So I kind of got sidetracked when it came to this chapter. In all honesty by the time I uploaded chapter 4 I had about 1,000 words done and just didn't continue. Why? I just found other things to do and I just sort of forgot. Anyways another reason is because for a time I lacked ideas. In terms of this story, I don't really plan anything out (the only thing I planned out was just the idea of Erza coming back from a year long trip.), so I often times drive myself into a corner where the ideas just don't come that easily. Anyways enjoy.**

**Reference:**

**Talking - "Quotations"**

**Thinking - 'Contractions'**

**Flashback - _Italics_**

**Spells, Important people or objects - Bold**

**_A Return Worth Waiting For_**

**_Chapter 5_**

The sound of someone being dragged on the ground was the sound that passing civilians heard when they looked at the young mages. The scarlet haired woman was dragging the rose haired man by his white scaled scarf.

"W-w-Why a-ar-e you d-doing this?" Natsu struggled for words, let alone breath; his face turning blue.

"Isn't it obvious? I, despite your strength, believe you should not be alone with your injuries. Therefore I'm taking you to your house." The scarlet beauty replied.

'Taking? She's basically forcing me to go home by dragging me by my scarf! I just wanted to relax with Happy and fish today! Natsu frantically thought. 'Time for more drastic measures I guess.'

In that moment, Natsu quickly reached up and unraveled his scarf that was still in Erza's iron grip, and quickly covered her eyes with it. By the time Erza was able to pull it away from her eyes, Natsu was already using his magic on the dirt ground to create a smoke screen to run away.

Unable to see clearly but a very faint figure run away, Erza yelled out, "Natsu! Where are you going?"

"Anywhere that doesn't involve you forcibly dragging me home!" Natsu cried out in fear and he ran faster to find Happy.

Before Erza could say anything else, Natsu was gone. He left her alone. With only his scaled white scarf in her hands. 'Was I being too forceful to him?' She thought somewhat sadly before wrapping the scarf around her neck and walked off into town.

* * *

_**A couple hours later**_

The sun was about to make it's way to the tree lines, and soon after that, the horizon, only to trade places with the moon for the time being until the following day. Erza was walking around idly not really thinking about much, until she noticed the time of day. She then decided to take a walk next to the river before heading to Fairy Hills for the night. On her way there she could faintly make out a high pitch voice.

"Woah Natsu! That's a big one!" the blue furred cat exclaimed in awe at the 4 foot long fish Natsu had caught. In Natsu's opinion it wasn't very big, but anything bigger than his feline friend, it would be considered 'big' in Happy's book.

"That makes twenty-three fish!" Natsu happily exclaimed.

Erza saw this and took noticed of how happy he seemed. He seemed to be genuinely enjoying himself with his friend, fishing rather than be around her. Erza soon turned to walk home; that is, until someone called out to her.

"Hey Erza!"

Erza quickly turned her head to the owner of the voice, facing the rose haired mage.

"Where are you going?" Natsu asked, rather curious as to why she was briefly watching them then just head home.

"Uh just heading home." Erza replied emotionlessly, not giving way that she was somewhat saddened.

"Do you want to join us?" Natsu asked joyfully.

"What?" Erza asked perplex that he asked if she would like to fish with him and Happy.

"Aye sir!" Happy announced without any context

"Isn't it getting late?" Erza asked, now trying to come up with excuses.

"Nonsense! It's never too late for fishing!" Natsu yelled happily.

Erza gave in, and decided to join Natsu and his blue furred friend in some fishing. After a while she found it quite enjoyable. Able to join in the free spiritedness of the two. The splashing of the water when a fish comes out, getting sprayed with water from Happy, and the funny whining sound Happy made when both Natsu and herself hung a fish over his head became the moments Erza best enjoyed. Soon she was laughing with the other two, acting unlike how many remember her as the strict emotionless knight, but as a young woman who enjoys being with people she cares for and having free spirited fun.

* * *

The sun was now finishing it's descent over the horizon and Happy was fast asleep on the shoreline of the river. Natsu himself, despite his seemingly endless stamina, was also exhausted. He reached down and picked Happy up and set him down atop his head. Erza herself greatly enjoyed the time spent here and was tired like the other two. Ready to flop in bed and sleep until morning. She and Natsu started walking to Fairy Hills

"Thanks for inviting me to fish with you Natsu. I really enjoyed it." Erza sad with a genuine smile.

"No problem. I noticed you seemed saddened by something. It's what family are for: to comfort those who are hurting. Besides, I wasn't about to leave you out of the fun we were having." Natsu said with a toothy grin.

Soon enough, the pair ended up near the entrance of Fairy Hills.

"Well, I'm turning in for the night. I'll see you later Natsu."

"Alright. I'll see you in the morning then Erza. We should take a mission again." Natsu turned away as he said his goodnight, beginning his walk home.

As Erza saw the retreating figure of Natsu, she swore she forgot something. Something he forgot with their brief scuffle earlier in the day. Something white….something warm. His scarf.

"Oh! Natsu, You left your scarf when you ran away earlier." Erza voiced loudly about to unravel the scarf, already beginning to miss the warm feeling it brought her.

"Huh? Oh, you can hold to it. I trust you with it. Besides, you look nice with it." Natsu complimented without thinking, continuing his walk home.

"Uh t-th-thank you." Erza lightly stuttered, caught off-guard from his compliment with her cheeks turning pink. "See you tomorrow Natsu." She mumbled slightly, rather flustered. She then slowly turned towards the dormitory and started walking inside snuggling her face into the warm scarf. Upon entering her room she flopped on her bed and quickly fell asleep with the scarf pushed against her for all the warmth it brought her.

* * *

_**Afternoon the next day**_

A series of groans broke through the forest this breezy afternoon. The groans belonged to a man, who appeared to be suffering quite substantially. He was collapsed on a small raft that was surrounded by a small pond no bigger than 30 feet in diameter and 7 feet deep. Natsu was suffering from his signature motion sickness. His face was a retched shade of green and his face was bloated comically as if he was about to let out his - "BLUUUAAH" …. lunch.

A muffled laugh was heard close by from a young woman, who found her best friend suffering comically from something so rare, rather amusing.

"Wha-w-what are you laughing at!?" Natsu groaned, struggling to not lose another helping of food.

"Oh, nothing. Just finding your 'training' rather amusing seeing as how it looks more like torture." Erza replied after settling down her laughter.

"B-b-but it is torture! You d-d-ragged me out here and threw me on this. I wanted to go on a mission today!" Natsu continued to ramble.

Erza simply playfully pouted. "Well you did say you wanted to do something about your motion sickness. I was only lending a helping hand."

Natsu, not noticing her playful mood thought she was genuinely upset about his outburst. "I-I'm sorry Erza. I did not meant to yell." He apologized.

Erza simply just started laughing which caused Natsu to catch on that Erza was playing with him. He simply let out a low growl. While he was annoyed Erza was playing with him, he was happy that Erza was letting herself go and enjoying herself, even if it was at the price of him suffering.

"How about this then Natsu. If you can improve your motion sickness to where you can at least **withstand** transportation for more than 5 seconds by the end of tomorrow, I will help you and Happy stock up on fish, and personally cook a meal for you myself."

Natsu immediately forgot about his being on a small raft, his face lighting up instantly. "Really!? You promise!?"

Erza just smiled. "Of course."

Something then proceeded to pop into Natsu's head. "Wait, you learned to cook?" Natsu was not sure if he should still be excited or now dreading what might happen should he improve on his motion sickness. Back before she left, Erza was not a very good cook. Finding ways to even burn water. If nothing has changed, Natsu considered not trying to train out of his motion sickness.

"I'm shocked Natsu. You think that in the time I've been gone I didn't pick up a thing or two? Well think again!" Erza replied with enthusiasm.

'She's getting more fired up about proving her cooking to me than I am about my 'reward'. Natsu sullenly thought. "Alright, fine. Let's do thi-UUWAAH" Natsu lost his balance on his small raft and fell into the 'pond'.

Erza felt herself dying as she laughed at her teammate's humorous situation, taking a good 5 minutes before she calmed down. 'He doesn't realize it yet, but in that brief moment, he was completely fine. So take away his attention away from transportation and he will be alright?' The thoughts were never continued beyond that when Natsu emerged from the water, briefly gasping for air.

It was only then that Erza noticed the sun was starting to set, turning the deep blue sky into a mixture of red and orange. It would be too late to pick a mission, let alone go to the guild hall as Mira and everyone else has probably went home by now.

"Ok Natsu, let's call it a day. It will be dark soon, and I bet you want to get up early so you can train more to get your 'reward'." Erza said softly to Natsu who just finished regaining oxygen to his lungs.

Offering her hand to Natsu to help him up, Natsu took it and got to his feet. Erza was about to head off to go home before she was stopped.

"Wait."

Erza turned and looked at Natsu, who had a face full of determination and a certain look of seriousness in his eyes that is rarely seen by anyone. No more was the fun spirited dragon slayer of Fairy Tail. Right in front of her was a man who had a goal and was determined to see it through till the end.

"What is it Natsu? It's getting late, we should turn in before it gets too dark." Erza said calmly to Natsu, trying to dissuade him from achieving his 'goal', whatever that is, with the night just around the corner. The two many be some of strongest mages around the area, but that doesn't mean it's safe to wander a forest at the dead of night.

"I want to fight you." Natsu said, his voice full of seriousness.

"No. It's getting late and I would like to be able to get some rest." Erza replied, her voice also showing her determination to not have a match at this time of day. "If you really want to fight, we will fight tomorrow when it's daytime."

"**No.** I want to fight you **right here, right now.**" Natsu growled, fire starting to dance around him. His magical power starting to flow out.

Erza seeing the sheer will he was putting out, realized nothing short of divine intervention will prevent him from getting what he wants. She of course knows why he is challenging her like this all of a sudden. They may be childhood friends, but she was always the stronger one. He was always challenging her and sorely losing not long after the fight began. This fight will be like no different. The only difference is? Natsu is much stronger now and Erza is actually looking forward to this, deep down.

A smile graced her lips. Nothing wrong with a good fight between friends. Erza's magical power erupted from her body to match Natsu's growing magical power. She was then enveloped in a light which then faded to reveal Erza in her **Flame Empress Armor.** Her sword then coated itself with violent flames.

"Alright Natsu. You're on, but don't say I didn't warn you." Erza smirked, getting in a battle-ready stance.

It's a good thing the two of them were on the outskirts of town. Not many people will be bothered. Many will only see the lightshow and distant sounds.

Natsu's face broke it's seriousness slightly to let a smile form on his face. "This time, I will be the winner and you will be the one warned when we fight." He retorted with his arms and legs completely engulfed in fire.

"Come! Natsu!" Erza shouted, declaring the beginning of the showdown almost no one will see.

**The end of chapter 5. I hoped you guys like it. I personally didn't like the part where Erza is sadden that Natsu probably doesn't like her. I'm not well versed in writing love/hurt stories, which is why I will try to avoid them until I can get better. As some may tell, Im trying to show where Erza is different here, she's letting go and having a good time with Natsu. I'm not sure if I made this aware before but, Erza and Natsu will come to love each other in the story, but as I said at the top, I'm not well versed in writing romance and love. It will happen, just not right now. Probably not soon either but they will become closer and closer.**

**ALSO, for those who are bothered by some of the grammatical errors in the chapters, it's due to the age of the processor I use as it doesn't pick up some spelling errors or fluency errors. I'm getting my new computer around the 18th of June and it comes with a brand new Word Document so that should improve.**

**Anyways leave a review and feel free to give suggestions. If you have questions about the story or my progress send me a message. I will try to answer them all.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Here is the 6th chapter to my little story. This story came out a lot sooner due to how much easier it was writing it out. I just started typing it and I soon got right into it and next thing I know I had 1,300 words written out in about 2 hours. It also helped that at that point I left myself at a part where I could easily come up with more ideas with this chapter ending at about 2,100 words. In this chapter you will see how Erza is different to the main story. Enjoy**

**Reference:**

**Talking - "Quotations"**

**Thinking - 'Contractions'**

**Flashback - _Italics_**

**Spells, Important people or objects - Bold**

**_A Return Worth Waiting For_**

**_Chapter 6_**

_**The Following Morning**_

"Happy! Have you seen Natsu and Erza anywhere!?" A rather frightened white haired bartender desperately asked the blue cat as he flew in. It was still quite early but usually the two of them always showed up by now if not just to indicate they were alive and well.

"No. Erza got me some fish and said she was going to help Natsu out with his motion sickness. But that was yesterday afternoon. They were in talking about heading to the woods on the outskirts of town." Happy responded. He wasn't overly worried about his 'father' / best friend, but that doesn't mean he isn't nervous as to why he hasn't shown up.

After a quick moment of Mira pondering what to do, the doors flew open. The two, assumed, judging by the loudness of the door, that it was Natsu. Wrong. It was Jet. Fairy Tail's High Speed Magic user.

"Guys! Take a look at what those two done!" He frantically yelled.

"What two did what?" Asked Gray as he wasn't paying attention to the conversation earlier.

"Look!" The high speed mage replied, pointing out the still open doors he was holding. Pointing to a column of smoke that was noticeable in the far off distance.

"Are you sure that's from him? It is that time of year where forest fires can start." Macao

"It's late spring you senile old man!" Wakaba insulted.

"Hey! I'm the same age as you! So you're no better." Macao retorted comically angry at his friends insult.

Mira and Happy just ignored this little outburst and left the guild to go check up on the two, with Gray following behind him claiming he had nothing better to do.

* * *

_**In The Forest**_

Amidst the sliced trees, burnt grass, two figures were laying unconscious in a shady part of the woods despite the damage the surrounding area has taken. Both Natsu and Erza fought to the point of exhaustion and passed out. Natsu lay spread out on his back covered in small cuts, his clothes in tatters while Erza was fast asleep right next to him, with her regular clothing on, littered with minor burns and bruises. Erza starting to feel a little cold noticed Natsu's warm body in her sleep and snuggled right up next to him to get warm. Her head finding a resting place in the crook of his neck.

Gray briefly split up with his guild members to look for the two. It shouldn't be hard as the area of damage was rather confined, which is saying a lot, considering how destructive he knew the two could be. He pushed away some bushes and entered the clearing, finally seeing the signature red and pink hair of his teammates. What caught his attention was not that he found them passed out, but the way Erza had herself wrapped around Natsu's torso as if claiming him as her own.

"Hey Mira, Happy, I found them." Gray said quieter than usual. Normally he wouldn't care about how loud he spoke, but Erza being asleep there made him quickly rethink the volume of his voice.

"Really? Whe-" Mira began before she saw the two sleeping. "Oh my." Mira brought her hands to her mouth. "They look so lovely together!" She nearly squealed.

"Natsu! Natsu!" Happy kept nudging his dear friend, only to get a slight murmur from Natsu.

"Ha…told you Erza….stronger now….All fired…up." He incoherently murmured before returning to deep sleep. His teammates only could decipher he was dreaming a conversation with Erza and about being fired up.

"Alright, let's get these two back to the guild and have them patched up." Gray said about to hoist Natsu up on his back.

"No. I think they are fine. They were simply exhausted. Besides, look how comfortable they look! Especially Erza. This is the first time I've seen her so content." Mira admired, happy that her friend changed for the better.

"Really? You think so? I say she might just be having a good dream, but I have never really cared to watch other people sleep. Erza being no exception." Gray just plainly stated. "Anyways, regardless of how they feel, it isn't the best idea to just leave them sleeping out here." he continued, knelt down and hoisted Natsu up on his back.

"Fine. Have it your way." Mira lamented, and quickly knelt down to pick Erza up. This action caused Erza stir in her sleep. "Natsu….come back…..cold….you're warm." Erza mumbled in her sleep with a small smile on her face." This caused Mira to giggle. She now has information to tease her with.

Happy on the other hand simply just rested on top of Natsu's head. While he claims he doesn't worry about Natsu, he was nonetheless relieved that nothing happened to him. How could anything happen to him? He was with Erza after all; the guild's strongest female mage.

* * *

_**About An Hour Later At The Guild**_

Mira, Gray, and Happy just walked in (Happy just remained resting on the unconscious Natsu's head) the guild, earning a few stares from the more prominent members.

"Oh my, are they going to be alright Mira?" A small blue haired bookworm asked.

Mira simply smiled, "Yes levy, they will be just fine. They apparently trained to the point of exhaustion and fell asleep out in the woods." She then continued to the medical bay with Gray following. Before entering however, she called out to a particular artist in the guild. "Hey Reedus, could you do something for me in a minute?"

"What? U-uh s-sure." Reedus nervously replied.

"What are you thinking Mira" Gray asked darkly. Not because he was angered or annoyed, but because he knew of Mira's mischievous streak, and because he's right next to her, he will be dragged in on it. The ultimate result? Being on the receiving end of one of Erza's [once] well known punishments.

"Oh, just something….'happy' I guess. Something for all of us to remember." The white haired beauty replied rather vaguely.

The two then entered the room with the beds side by side. Gray was about to flow Natsu on his bed and walk away but Mira stopped him. "Wait. Move one of these beds for me. To where it's right next to Natsu's." She requested

"So this is your plan, have Reedus draw a painting of these two sleeping? I don't see the point." Gray lamely stated as he did as she asked and pushed a bed up against the bed that Natsu now lay peacefully on. He really wasn't interested in these kind of things

"You don't have to, but the others will see it." Mira said with a small glint in her eye. She then gently set Erza down next to Natsu, not too close that she was on top of him almost, but close enough to where she can feel the warmth resonating off his body.

As Mira predicted, Erza subconsciously noticed this in her sleep and moved closer into Natsu; wrapping her arm around his torso to pull him into her and buried her head into his neck with a content smile on her face. Closely mirroring what the ice mage and former takeover mage saw when they found the two in the forest.

Mira quickly went back into the main hall of the guild and called for Reedus. "Reedus! Come here quickly!" She gestured for him to hurry to the medical bay.

Reedus quickly followed her to the bay and as he saw the two figures on the bed, he knew exactly what Mira wanted of him. He wanted him to paint a picture of the rather cute and romantic scene before them. "I understand." He said without a word being spoken to him, and began to paint a picture, quite quickly too.

In a few short minutes Reedus had the painting done and handed it over to Mira. Mira simply smiled brightly at this and raced out of the bay to see Makarov. "I don't know what goes on in that head of hers sometimes." A voice spoke out. Reedus turned to see Gray.

"I-I'm sure she won't do anything bad." He replied. True while Mira didn't mean anything bad, she was thoroughly going to enjoy what she could do now that she had this picture.

* * *

_**Later That Day**_

How long has he been out? What exactly happened? Where was he? Why does he seem to lack the strength to sit up? These question flooded a certain rose haired mage's mind as he came to. He felt a weight on his torso as he once again tried to sit up. What startled him was when he felt both this 'weight' move, and the softness of the of it. His eyes immediately shot open. He immediately noticed he was in the guild's medical bay laying on a bed. His mind turned back to what was on top of him. He managed to sit up just enough to look down and saw red hair, and a white top with a blue skirt.

'Oh. It's just Erza.' Natsu idly thought and returned to relaxing while staring at the ceiling. That is, until something clicked in his head. 'WAIT!? ERZA' he nearly screamed his thoughts. His face drained it's colored upon the realization that the Titania was laying on him. Her arms wrapped around his torso as if he was her property and her face tucked away in his sternum.

"Erza, get up." He nudged her. 'Oh I hope I don't get beat up for this.' Was his primary thought as he noticed Erza starting to budge.

"Natsu…stop…you're so warm and comfortable. It's too early to get up." She mumbled still not realizing what she was actually doing was not just a dream.

Erza fell back into deep slumber. Natsu thought all hope was gone until the doors opened to reveal the guild master and the guild's bartender, Mira.

"Help me." Natsu pleaded quietly. He wasn't physically uncomfortable. Actually he quite liked it, but he was afraid of what Erza would think he was doing when she finds out the position she was in.

Mira just giggled with a mischievous smile hidden carefully behind her everlasting smile. Makarov however, just closed his eyes and coughed into his fist. "Erza get up." He said sternly. This somehow, despite how much quieter it was compared to Natsu earlier, was enough to rouse the scarlet haired mage from her sleep.

"Huh? Where am I?" She said drowsily, looking at what she was laying on and noticed Natsu. "Natsu, why are you in my bed?" She asked with a blank face, not really mad at the prospect of her sharing a bed with Natsu.

Natsu became more scared. "W-w-what?! T-t-this isn't what it looks like." He studdered like no other. "This i-is the guild's medical bay."

Erza simply looked up and around and somehow didn't look behind her to see if anyone actually was around. 'He's right, we're in the guild, but how did we get there."

Mira just giggled quietly to herself. From her and the master's view, Erza looked as if she was about to do something dirty to the Salamander. She then decided to make Erza **really** embarrassed.

"Aw! Look! Our favorite couple about to **do it** in the guild. How Naughty of you Erza!" She announced; making it seem as if she just walked in.

Erza's head flipped around and saw it was indeed the white haired bartender along with the guild's master. She then turned to look at how she was basically straddling Natsu's waist. She quickly turned red. A shade so bright it put her signature hair color to shame.

"Kya!" She squealed and instantly jumped off the bed.

Everyone else in the room just stood surprised. Well, the only one visually showing it was Natsu. This was the first time she ever acted so…girly. Especially around him and the other two.

"W-w-we were not doing anything!" Erza desperately tried to explain. "I just happened to fall asleep next to him. That's all!

"Oh sure." Mira replied, her voice laced with sarcasm that Erza caught.

"WE WERE'NT." Erza basically screamed, her face still bright red.

"As much as it humors me to see you act like this Erza, I would like to talk about last night."

Shook out of his/her shock/embarassment, Natsu and Erza looked to the master with their faces looking confused.

"HOW THE HELL DO YOU LEVEL AND BURN A PORTION OF THE FOREST!?"

Erza and Natsu comically clung to each other out of fear. Starting to recount the events that brought the duo in this situation.

**I hoped you like this chapter. I certainly had fun writing it given how fast I wrote it. Anyways, the next chapter will start with a Flashback of the two fighting. At least that's what I have planned at the moment. As for how long it will last: I doubt it will last the whole chapter but if it does. It won't stretch into two or anything. I intend to keep it brief. If you don't want me to go into a small flash back just say so. The majority will decide. Anyways, as for chapter length. I intend to make EVERY chapter AT LEAST 2,000 words. Yes that's not a lot, but any longer and you'd have to wait longer for. Anyways leave a suggestion and a review and I shall see you all later.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Yeah, not going to lie. I kind of felt like I was forcing myself to write this, mostly so others can continue to reading the story. If you notice a drop of quality in this chapter, That's why. I kind of ran out of a ideas or I pushed myself to a situation that sounded good in theory but didn't know how to come out of it. Anyways despite this, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter**

**Reference:**

**Talking - "Quotations"**

**Thinking - 'Contractions'**

**Flashback - _Italics_**

**Spells, Important people or objects - Bold**

**_A Return Worth Waiting For_**

**_Chapter 7_**

_**Flashback: The Previous Night**_

"_**FIRE DRAGON'S ROAR!" **__A spell was screamed out followed by a gigantic geyser of fire shooting up into the sky, missing its intended target. _

"_Come on, is that all you've got Natsu? I figured you'd get much stronger in the last year." Erza teasingly mocked, despite her lowering magical reserves and the wounds she was receiving. She meant nothing harmful of course, but Erza was well aware of how Natsu's magic power fluctuates with his emotions._

_Natsu was fairing no better, he was just as beat up, with cuts everywhere; normally he would be exhausted by now, but will seems to give him endless magical reserves. "Dammit!" He yelled, flames started to envelope the entirety of his body. He started building up his magic power, he then sent the flames to his hands, brought them together and… "__**Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame!"**__ A massive fireball shot out torwards his target._

_Erza's eyes widened in shock. 'That's a new one.' She thought. She soon realized she would not be able to evade it in time with her __**Flight Armor**__ so she decided to at least halve the damage. She quickly changed into her __**Flame Empress Armor.**_

_**BOOM!**__ A massive shockwave hit the surrounded area as an explosion covered the area. Trees were uprooted and flown away. How the nearby town of Magnolia was able to sleep through this was beyond them._

_Natsu quickly fell to his knees panting for air. "It's still fairly new, and takes a toll on me." He said despite not really directing it to anyone._

_Erza soon came forth from the smoke, at first Natsu was shocked, thinking she wasn't fazed in the least, but upon closer inspection, he soon realized she was rather banged up, despite her reducing the damage with her armor._

"_I guess that spell was a little stronger than I thought it would be." Erza admitted, "I got careless." she finished with a smirk. _

_Natsu simply smiled as he reignited his magic. "Yeah well, I'm just making you eat your words about me not getting any stronger."_

_Erza said nothing, only letting a smile remain on her face, before a white light enveloped her figure and disappeared._

_Natsu was now nervous. 'Damn, as I thought, she no longer requires the need to chant her magic, meaning I have no way to know what armor she's using. Judging by how fast she disappeared I think she chose-'_

_He had no more time to finish his though. His keen sense of smell caught onto Erza charging him from behind, clad in her __**Flight Armor**__. 'No time to dodge! I must use-'_

_Erza was already behind him before his thought finished and already swung her sword from the blunt edge in order to not harm her friend. To her surprise however, the sword just phased right through Natsu. Natsu's body decomposing into fire and disappearing._

_Erza was quite shocked as she literally thought she killed Natsu. These thoughts were soon erased from her mind. 'Ok Erza. Think! Think! Where could he be? Left? No. Right? No. Straight ahead? No, Natsu is smarter than to charge me head on. Behind? Dammit! Where could he be!?' She desperately thought. _

"_Hey there." The soft, yet mocking, whisper of Natsu pierced the air. Erza's head whipped around to where she thought she heard it. 'Dammit! He's not here! How does someone, effectively composed of fire, stay hidden in the night!?'_

"_**FIRE DRAGON'S-"**_

_Erza noticed too late the source of those words. 'ABOVE!' She looked up to see a materializing Natsu less than 3 feet from her, leaving her no time to defend herself._

"_**-IRON FIST!" **__Natsu brought his fist forwards to Erza and hit her dead-on, causing yet another detonation of shockwaves and explosions. _

_Minus the low rumble of the ground and the dirt falling back to the earth, silence was all that was heard. Natsu found himself completely drained and starting to lose consciousness. Natsu fought to keep himself awake to prove his finally beat Erza, but the temptation of sleep was too much. Natsu ultimately lost consciousness and fell forward, but not before being caught by an equally battered and beaten Erza, now in her regular clothes._

"_It seems you saved the best for last Natsu. I feel like I didn't learn anything compared to you, I simply improved my physical capabilities." She said softly, despite knowing Natsu would not hear her. She set him down, and laid right next to him. Sleepiness taking her too, due to her condition._

_**End of Flashback, and a short time after Natsu and Erza Explanation**_

"Oh! It seems our loving couple are done recuperating in the Medical Bay. You didn't impede our Natsu's recovery with your desire to have fun, right Erza?" The ever mischievous bartender teased Erza as she saw her and Natsu exit the room with the guild master following behind them. Said bartender's smile disappeared after a sword imbedded itself, next to her head, into the wall behind her; courtesy of a very red-in-the-face-Erza.

"Oh my! Did I just strike a nerve?" Mira recovered to further taunt the Fairy Queen.

Natsu, who was witnessing this, was trying his best, along with the master, to prevent the very angry and embarrassed Erza from going down to beat Mira into next month.

"Destroy….prove dominance….regain sanity….satisfaction….happiness." Erza incoherently mumbled as she seethed in her anger, continuing to struggle against the grip of Natsu and Makarov.

Mira who was now sensing the killing intent coming from the Titania was actually starting to back off, a little nervous. "Uh. Elfman can you watch the bar for one second? I need to do something real quick."

Elfman had no chance to give a proper response before Mira already found her way out of the guild. "A real man does no-"

"FREE ALCHOHOL!" The guild heavy drinker, Cana shouted and jumped over the counter after said beverages and accidently hit Wakaba who then hit Macao.

"You got a problem Wakaba!?" Macao roared

"Yeah! I didn't do shit!" Wakaba yelled back

"That is total-" The dark blue haired man was unable to finish as he was sent flying to the wall by a giant fist.

"Real men argue with their fist!" Elfman roared

Natsu had to pull Erza down to prevent the two of them being hit by the now projectile Macao, doing so however brought their faces right next to one another, this being enough to snap Erza out of her anger.

"Natsu, what are you doing?" Erza asked, fighting to not get embarrassed again.

"You didn't see that **thing** fly right at us?! I had to pull you down so we wouldn't get hit."

"Hm humph ah hng" Macao muffled with his head lodged into the wall.

"Shut it old man!" Wakaba yelled, almost unable to contain his laughter at his drinking buddy's situation.

A brawl then ensued when Natsu simply went to Wakaba and hit him. Elfman, not wanting to miss a chance to prove his manliness, charged Natsu, only to be sent flying into Gray and some other guild members. The brawl went on until everyone realized something. They, the entirety of the guild, had done the fatal mistake. A mistake that was well known when a certain someone was around. **Never fight when Erza is around.** Well, that is what they thought. Many people turned in fear, thinking that Erza would be right there ready to deliver divine punishment on all of them, instead, Erza had a small smile on her face. Natsu noticed this and decided to take the opportunity to get an easy hit on Gray.

"Ow! What the hell!?" Gray yelled rubbing his cheek, backing into Jet.

"You want to go again Gray!?" Jet threatened preparing his magic before being knocked into Wakaba by the now mobile Macao.

On looking the scene, Makarov noticed how quickly the guild forgot the presence of Erza and turned to her. "You're actually not going to stop them this time?" He asked intrigued.

"No. Not this time, it has been far too long since I saw them like this. I think I will actually just sit back and let them have their fun." Erza stated with a simple smile.

"You like him, don't you?" Makarov asked out of the blue.

"Huh? Like? Who are you talking about?" Erza asked startled, the master never asked her about more personal matters.

"Who else could I mean? Only a fool could miss that you've attempted to spend every moment since you've returned with Natsu. You did grow up with him after all." He explained

Erza simply just started to blush. "I-I-I W-well…"

"No need, your face is giving it away." Makarov smirked, causing Erza's face to further redden, "My advice to you however, is to hurry up and try to get him. In your absence, if you haven't already noticed, Natsu has grown much stronger and he is starting to gain notoriety. This will spark some admirers, some possibly hoping to take him for themselves."

Makarov noticed that Erza's blush was replaced with a fire that lit up in her eyes. Her competitiveness sparking up. "I bid you good luck." With that he returned to his office for the time being. 'Looks like she's all fired up. Heh, could have taken that the wrong way.' He smirked to himself.

Erza however steeled her resolve, "NATSU!" she shouted, the guild, Natsu included, froze in horror. It would seem their 'fun' would end with Erza giving out punishment, with the dragon slayer possibly getting the worst of it. "We are going on a mission!" and quickly turned to leave the guild.

'But you didn't even get a request from the board!' Natsu frantically thought as he rather reluctantly followed the scarlet beauty.

* * *

Following Erza to outskirts of town, towards to woods. Natsu noticed they were not far from his house. He then noticed Erza stopped moving.

"Erza, where are we going?" Natsu asked rather tired of walking all this way without telling him a thing.

Erza said nothing as she slowly turned around and stared right at him. This cause Natsu to slowly become nervous as she started a slow walk to him.

"E-e-erza, are you o-okay?" Natsu started to shiver in fear as Erza stopped when her face was a couple inches away from his.

"Natsu, how do you feel about me?" She asked plainly

"W-w-what did you say? Natsu asked, still shaking.

"I said, how do you feel about me? Do you like me? Am I just your friend? Do you….love me?" She struggled to ask the last part.

"Uh, w-w-well, you're my best friend, I've known you forever b-b-but, why do you ask?" Natsu asked, not wanting to continue answer, lest he say something that will shorten his life span significantly.

"I-i-it's just that I…I…Ah screw it!" Erza just yelled and crashed her lips on Natsu's.

* * *

'Peeerrrfect, that's how I will do it.' Erza thought deviously about how she would claim Natsu as her own when she turned around to see….Natsu not behind her? "Eh!? Natsu!?" She comically panicked when she noticed Natsu was no longer behind her.

"God dammit…" She huffed to herself, guess her confession will be able to wait a few measly minutes. The scarlet haired woman then sped off to find **her** dragon slayer.

**Did you notice the drop of quality? Most of said Quality drop happens after the Flashback which I felt particularly proud of since I have never wrote out a legit fight scene. Anyways, hope you didn't completely hate this chapter, I will hopefully feel better about the upcoming chapter(s). However, I am slowly losing ideas whether I forget them, use them faster than I get them, or someone else has used them and I want to retain a form of originality from other stories. Anyways I hope to see you in the near future.**


	8. Chapter 8

**So, in order to make up for how long the last chapter took to complete, I give you this chapter, it's shorter than how I like to have my chapter (at least 2,000 words) but I say given how fast I wrote it with the time I have available to me, this will do. This chapter, why it was written so fast was because I decided to try to have some fun with this chapter, nothing really serious  happens in this chapter, just good humor and fun.**

**Reference:**

**Talking - "Quotations"**

**Thinking - 'Contractions'**

**Flashback - _Italics_**

**Spells, Important people or objects - Bold**

**_A Return Worth Waiting For_**

**_Chapter 8_**

"Gah! I can't believe I look away for a moment and I turn back and she's gone!" The rose haired mage raged at himself. He was following Erza and he saw a fish stall and started strolling towards it before realizing he was supposed to follow Erza. However, once he got back on track he noticed she disappeared.

Natsu was slowly starting to panic. Who can blame him? Everyone in the guild fears the wrath of Erza in all its forms. He started running hoping to find the red head, hoping to avoid such a treatment.

* * *

"Natsu!" Erza hollered as she was walking around the town. 'I should have more carefully watched him rather than get lost in my imagination!' she screamed at herself. Despite her self-complaints however, she was once again lost in her thoughts until she walked right into a similar man who was lost in his thoughts; a man who had rose colored hair. Hitting the poor man in the nose with her head.

"Ow! Watch where you're going!" Natsu yelped in pain as he stumbled back clutching his nose.

"Me? Watch where you're going" Erza fell on her behind and began softly rubbed her head, it didn't hurt her much but it still stung and caught her completely off guard.

Both of them forgot what they were previous doing due to the situation and were unable to process that the two they were looking for bumped right into each other.

"Oh, it's you Natsu. Look where you're going next time." Erza slowly grumbled as she started to get up.

At this time Natsu took small notice of the position Erza was in. He was able to see up her skirt and see her underwear. His face turned a very light shade of pink, matching his hair color as he responded, "Yeah, I'm sorry. I'll watch where I'm going."

Erza took noticed of where his gaze pointed for the brief moment and went silent as her hair hung over her eyes. "Natsu, did you just look up my skirt?" She asked darkly, almost fully standing now.

"W-w-what? N-n-n-no. I-I-I mean I looked, b-b-but I didn't m-mean to!" Natsu stuttered hoping to keep on living. He was a man after all so when a women was in a 'vulnerable' position he couldn't help but sneak a glance.

"Oh and how do you not 'mean' to?" Erza asked with her eyes still covered, now gaining a tick mark.

Natsu simply figured negotiations and begging were not going to help his situation, so he turned tail and rain for dear life.

Erza just fumed more. "NATSU! GET BACK HERE AND TAKE YOUR PUNISHMENT LIKE A MAN YOU PERVERT!" chasing after him. Unlike Natsu however she simply barged through people knocking many over like bowling pins. One such unfortunate bystander was the Mira-In-Hiding.

"Oh my, what has Erza so pissed she would rage through town just to get at Natsu?" she asked to herself, but didn't think long on it as both Natsu and Erza were already out of sight. She simply got up and headed back to the guild

"NO WAY I'M GOING TO STOP SO YOU CAN PUMMEL ME INTO DUST!" Natsu yelled back out of sheer terror.

"DON'T OVEREXAGGERATE YOUR PUNISHMENT!" Erza yelled back

"YOU HAVE A SWORD OUT!" Natsu shrieked, growing more terrified of what's to come.

Erza's anger dissipated by the humorous reactions she was getting from Natsu, and her dark glare was replace by an evil smile as she continued to terrorize him. "I'M JUST GOING TO CUT YOU DOWN TO SIZE!" She yelled back

Natsu ran and ran, how he hasn't been caught by Erza, let alone collapse was unknown to him. All he knew was that the two of them were in the woods and he was nearing the place he and Happy called home. Where was Happy?

"THAT'S RIGHT NATSU! JUST SLOW DOWN AND FINALLY STOP SO I CAN GET YOU!" Erza yelled all too 'sweetly'.

Natsu just yelped and quickly tried to pick up speed before he finally noticed how exhausted he had become. It dawned that the current rate he would not make it to the safety and comfort of his home. He had to use a little bit of deception.

"ERZA! LOOK! I SEE CAKE RIGHT OVER THERE!" Natsu pointed in a direction to the side and hoped for the best.

Erza's face went from her dark smile to that of a school girl getting one of the best things in life from the possibility that her favorite could be where Natsu pointed. "REALLY!?" She nearly drooled at the aspect, slowed her pace and looked expectantly in the direction; she saw nothing.

"Natsu did you really…" She didn't finish as she saw Natsu continue to bolt away and into his house. "YOU LITTLE…!" Erza roared and ran full blast at Natsu

Natsu got to the door and as he turned around to shut the door he saw a red headed demon flying towards him at high speeds. He slammed the door shut and held his back against it to brace it from the almost certainty that Erza will try to bash it in. That was not the case. Instead of trying to bust down the door, Natsu found a sword was shoved through appearing next to his stomach.

"OPEN THIS DOOR AND ACCEPT DIVINE PUNISHMENT!" Erza roared furiously; apparently not liking the obvious deception Natsu pulled on her.

Natsu simply said nothing and just tried to keep the door on its….hinges? Well, something of the sort, as Erza simply resorted to bashing against the door in a way to hopefully get Natsu to let her in instead of just destroying it. That is, before an idea struck her…

Natsu was praying so hard he would not become shish-kabob or become a pancake that he was unable to notice that Erza was no longer trying to force her way through the door. "Huh, did she leave?" and in a moment of stupidity he opened the door slightly which ended with….no one there…?

"Wait! She's trying to trick me!" He assumed, and closed the door, thinking he outsmarted the mighty Titania, he walked victoriously to his room. "Hah! Outsmarted her!"

"Outsmarted who…?" A mischievously dark feminine voice softly rang out right behind him.

"Huh?" Natsu absentmindedly said while startled. He turned around at the moment the figure lunged at him, wrapping her arms around his arms and waste to prevent his escape.

"Got you!" The figure said all too sweetly, with a dark undertone. The figure straddling Natsu.

"E-e-erza! How did you get in!?" Natsu asked in a panic while also going red at the close contact between him and her.

Erza would have almost face palmed herself if she didn't have her arms wrapped around him. "You have windows Natsu." Natsu still didn't get the message, and he would never learn for Erza continued, "Never mind that. For now, I shall deliver your punishment." She finished with an evil glint in her eye.

Natsu was not going out his way. He'll be dammed if he wasn't going to put up some form of resistance. Natsu let the strength leave his legs and he let himself fall, taking Erza with him.

"Kya!" Erza squeaked in a girly way. She was not expecting Natsu to do anything like that.

Natsu quickly tried standing back up while Erza was on his back, stunned, and dashed off into the other room. Erza quickly regained her senses and grabbed the nearest thing she hand grabbed it and….'is that Natsu's underwear!?'

"Think fast Natsu!" Erza yelled throwing it at him. Natsu turned at the right moment with his own boxers meeting him right in the face.

"Ack! Gross!" He pulled them away to see Erza coming right at him. He quickly turned to run away starting to dodge the various things Erza would throw at him; clothes, cups, plates, Happy, uneaten fish bones.

"Stop throwing stuff at me!" Natsu comically yelled back at Erza, the two apparently at this point were outside running around the house.

"Accept your punishment then!" Erza yelled back, stifling a small giggle while holding up a battered and bruise Happy, who was sadly used by Erza as a projectile to hit Natsu multiple times.

"Why are you using Happy as a weapon?" Natsu raged in a way that Erza just could not take serious.

"Oh? This? Well, my mistake, I thought it was a ball." Erza absentmindedly dropped Happy and accidently stepped right on him. 'I have an idea!' she thought, thinking to use one of Natsu's favorite things against him. "Natsu! I have fish here! It's yours if you stop running." She said all too sweetly.

Natsu being the gullible person he was, stopped and look back at Erza. What he saw were three things he did not expect. 1, Erza did not have the fish she promised. 2, Erza was charging him still. 3, Erza was in her seduction armor. The reaction Natsu gave, in Erza's mind, was priceless.

"Keep running Natsu! I can do this. She lied about fish and is now using seduction to slow me down." Natsu said to himself as he turn to keep running, Erza now right behind him, just beyond an arm's length.

"Come now Natsu, you know you like what you see!" Erza said in a sultry voice, obviously trying to seduce him to some extent so he would slow down.

Natsu unconsciously decided to peak a glance at Erza who resembled a very skimpy dressed maid. Eying her chest, which only covered by an apron, was the mistake that would cost him however. He ran into a tree. He slammed right into it with a force that knocked the tree over, barely missing his house. He fell back with stars in his eyes, knocked right out.

"Well, I meant for him to slow down so I can catch him, but this works as well." Erza said walking up to his unconscious form, requiping into her blouse. She promptly leaned down, grabbed the back of Natsu's vest, and dragged him into his house.

**Well I hope you enjoyed the small little chapter here. I'm not sure if this chapter will be able to remain T for all the adult references I add into it. I have no intentions of writing full blown nudity (if I do, I won't go into detail) or lemons. I may imply certain things (like sex). So I shall ask you, think I should bump the rating to M just to be safe or do you think I'm good at remaining at T? Also, _Possible spoiler: I plan to have Erza confess to Natsu in the next chapter, if not the next one. I kind of want something more tragic happen to bring the two together for__ good._ Anyways, leave a review/comment and or suggestions if you want to. I shall see you later.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Alright so I quite literally wrote this in the two hours BEFORE I posted this chapter. No I didn't really rush it. I just had an idea and felt myself immersed. Anyways, this chapter kind of takes a dark-ish turn. Such as a bit of violence and blood. So if you don't like that kind of think. You are warned. Anyways hope you enjoy this chapter!**

**Reference:**

**Talking - "Quotations"**

**Thinking - 'Contractions'**

**Flashback - _Italics_**

**Spells, Important people or objects - Bold**

**_A Return Worth Waiting For_**

**_Chapter 9_**

_Emptiness…that's what the rose haired mage felt. Where was he? He felt…heavy. He searched around and saw nothing but the faint echo in the air. 'Naaaaaaaaaaatsssssuuuuuuu….' The echo sounded familiar. He just couldn't place it._

"_Who's there? Show yourself!" Natsu yelled out. The only response he got was his own echo. The dark setting was annoying. Not even able to see his own body. He tried to raise his hand up to ignite his fire magic, but he noticed he couldn't. "What the…?" Natsu looked down and saw he was tied to a chair, with his arms being bound behind his back. "Heh, silly old rope can't hold me down." Natsu smirked as he began to try to cover himself in fire but nothing happened. "Eh?" Natsu questioned, quite dumbfounded. Never has he be unable to summon any fire at all, even at peak magical exhaustion he could at least manage a spark, but here he was, perfectly fine, minus the situation he was in, and couldn't even manage that._

"_Come now Natsu. Don't you remember? You said I could do this to you. After all you do have to go through with this punishment I've yet to give you." A sweet feminine voice rang out. Natsu could not tell from which direction the voice came from. It was as if the voice originated from __**everywhere**__. _

"_Who was that? Show yourself!" Natsu was slowly losing his nerve. He could deal with not having his magic, quite confident in his physical prowess, but being bound, quite well in fact, negated any chance he'd have to escape._

"_What? You don't recognize me? It's only me. You're childhood friend." A scarlet haired woman started to come into view, revealing herself as Erza Scarlet._

"_Erza? What's going on? What punishment do you mean? I never agreed to anything." Natsu questioned, completely confused about his whole situation._

"_Oh Natsu, how you're so cute when you're so helpless." Erza said in a sultry tone that was foreign to Natsu._

_Natsu started to panic. No longer questioning his situation. The way Erza was talking instantly gave him the impression of something bad happening. He started squirming around, only succeeding in tipping the chair back and crashing on his head. Dazing him._

_A sweet laugh rang out from Erza. "Oh how I'm going to enjoy giving out your punishment." Holding out a whip, she started towards Natsu with a wicked smile on her blushing red face._

_Natsu's face went white with terror. "No. Please don't Erza!" Natsu pleaded comically. "I'll buy you all the cake you can ever want!" Erza didn't stop, only smirking more at his pleas. "No. Please no! AHHHHH!" he screamed as Erza starting to give out her 'punishment'._

* * *

Natsu woke with a start, falling off the bed. "Ow!" He yelped feeling the cold hard floor. "That's a first, I've never fallen out of bed like-….wait a bed? How did I get in here?" He wondered.

"Ah! You're finally awake then Natsu? Good. I made some Dinner." Erza's voice rang out from the doorway of his room. "I made some fried fish and some eggs. Not much but you had little other food that would make a good meal."

Natsu looked at Erza, instantly remembering the dream he had. Erza with a whip…whipping him…despite his pleas to let him go. Erza noticed he instantly disappeared from the floor and appeared again at the other side of his bed clutching his pillow and knees to his chest with a comically scared look on his face.

Erza simply blinked in awe at Natsu's expression. "Um, Natsu? Are you feeling alright?" She asked, quite confused what brought this on to the normally fearless fire mage.

"S-s-stay away! No more! Please don't whip me anymore! I said I would do anything!" Natsu comically screamed.

Erza couldn't hold it anymore, she laughed at this. Not an evil laugh, not a fake laugh, but a genuinely hearty laugh. "I wouldn't do that to you. You have my word." She said instantly calmed again.

Natsu began to calm down, slowly stopping the sever shivering of his body, and the return of color to his face. "Come now, food will get cold if you don't hurry up." Erza said softly. Natsu got off the bed and walked to the kitchen with Erza.

As the two got to the kitchen and started to eat, Natsu decided to bring something up.

"Hey Erza." He began

"Yes Natsu." I think I'm going to take a mission.

"That's good! Want me to accompany you?" Erza asked with glee

"Ah, no thanks. It's been a long time since I've went by myself." Natsu explained.

"Oh. I see. Well how long will you be gone?" Erza asked, now a bit gloomy.

"Should be no longer than two to three days. Maybe earlier if I'm lucky." Natsu answered with a grin on his face

"Alright then. Two to three days. No longer." Erza stated. After eating the two of them got up and began to head to the guild when Erza reminded Natsu of something.

"Natsu, about your dream earlier..." Erza began.

"Huh?" Natsu stopped and looked back at her.

"If you are into that kind of thing, I won't mind obliging to your desires." Erza finished, now holding a whip in her hand while watching Natsu turn white again in fear.

"I-I-I think I'm j-j-just going to go on my mission now." Natsu said shivering in fear. Once he made his 'not-so-suspicious-retreat', he then ran for dear sanity. This caused Erza to giggle to herself with much joy; how she would enjoy to continue doing these kinds of things to him more often.

* * *

_**Time skip: Two Days.**_

It was mid-evening. The exact time of day? Not important? What was important? Survival, run away or take them all down. That's what Natsu was trying his hardest to do. Take them all down. 'How could this mission turn out so bad? It was a simple escort mission with low-end pay!' Natsu's mission was quite a simple one, simply escort a man through a 'dangerous' part of the woods to a small town he never heard of near Hargeon. The part where it went to hell was when Natsu arrived at the edge of the woods where he was to meet with his client and saw no sign of him. He simply wandered intro the woods and soon found the corpse of who was to be his client. Then he noticed he was quickly surrounded.

"**FIRE DRAGON'S ROAR!" **Natsu shouted towards his ambushers, taking one down out of the seemingly infinite numbers. At least in Natsu's current condition it seemed infinite. He had been fighting and running away for at least a couple hours now. He couldn't keep this up.

*Huff* "Damn, *huff* they just keep coming. *huff*" He panted, he was exhausted, even for him, taking on a seemingly army of mages was too much, no matter his or their strength. Numbers can overwhelm, and he was slowly, but surely being overwhelmed. The mages in particular held no substantial power, but one after the other kept coming, slowly wearing him down.

"Damn it!" He snarled and covered himself in his flames again to prepare for the next wave of attacks. One of the mages charged at him, a man of middle height and appeared to be in his late 20's. Held a standard long sword, but what caught Natsu's eye was it was imbued with lightning. Natsu sidestepped it and delivered a flaming foot to the man's head, knocking him out. This was all it took however, for Natsu to be swarmed all at once by his pursuers.

'Shit! I can't dodge in time!' Natsu thought quickly and tried to dissipate himself into flames to escape the damage. He started building up his power but it just left him. He miscalculated the amount of magic power he had left in his reserves. He could only stare, helpless, as he was pinned down and one particular woman ran him through the right side of his stomach with a katana. Not fatal but it brought him down for the count.

Natsu hacked up blood, struggling to remain conscious. 'N-no! It can't end here! I can't….I….can't…' Even thinking was too much at this point as Natsu slowly lost consciousness and could only hear:

"Good job boys! It looks like we got him this time. Not so tough without the Titania by your side are ya?" A big guy taunted, raising his foot and bringing it down on Natsu's face; making everything go to black for the Salamander.

* * *

_**Two Days Later**_

Erza walked into the guild, though not in the usual way she would. She entered like normal, yes, but immediately went to Makarov's office to ask something that's been on her mind. She reached the door and proceeded to knock on the door.

"Yes? Who is it?" Came the gruff response of the Master.

"It's me Master!" Erza responded.

"Erza? Fine, come in." He welcomed.

Erza opened the door, proceeded to enter, shut it behind her, and promptly stood in front of Makarov's desk waiting for him to speak.

"What can I do for you Erza?" Came the master's polite question.

"Master, could you tell me the mission that Natsu has taken? I ask because no matter the mission he should have been back by the end of the 2nd day he's been gone. It's going on 5 days now. I'm starting to become concerned." Erza voiced her concerns.

"Yes, well. I can understand that, you two have been near inseparable since you're return. However, I ask you remain patient. Natsu is one of our top wizards. It will take something big to bring him down. Have some faith in his abilities, after wall, he's always yearned for you to acknowledge his abilities." Makarov spoke sternly but with compassion at the same time.

Erza didn't want to buy into this. She did in fact have great faith in Natsu's ability, but with his destructive tendencies and overall power, he should have been long done with his mission. She'd understand if it was an S-Class mission but no other S-Class mages other than herself ever go on missions with him. Something was off, and she knew the Master knew it as well. If he was delayed he would send word. "I understand. Thank you Master." Erza said solemnly, turning to walk to the door to the main guild hall.

"I know you're worried, and I am too, but we can't jump the conclusions for something that may just be a small delay. Don't worry, he'll make it home." Makarov reassured.

Erza just kept her back turned and walked out, heading to the main guild hall and took a seat at the bar. Mira assumed Erza would want what she always got, which was her Strawberry Cheese Cake. Erza wasn't hungry. Not anymore. She was more worried than anything else. She wasn't sure what, be she knew something was wrong. She just had to-.

"Erza you alright? You seem out of it." Mira asked as she came to Erza.

"Just curious as to where Natsu is at. He should have been done with his mission by now." Erza replied.

"Oh. I bet he is just buying you some of your favorite strawberry cheese cake you so love, but just has to go out of his way a bit to do so." Mira finished with a smile. She knew the two had interest in each other, but did not belief in what she said. She simply wanted Erza to cheer up to some degree at least."

The doors to the guild hall burst open revealing a messenger. "I have an important notice for a Makarov Dreyar! Is he present!?" The messenger voiced loudly.

"Yes I am here, what is it you bring?" Makarov asked as he was finishing his trek down the stairs.

"I was not given details but the people who asked me to deliver it told me it's about the Slamander, Natsu Dragneel."

Erza's face lit up and she snatched the letter away and tried to open it as Makarov strolled up behind her, jumped on a stool and looked over her shoulder to view the letter. What they saw was…horrible.

* * *

_**A Couple Hours Earlier In An Unknown Location**_

"…but we got him didn't we?" A light male voiced questioned mockingly.

'Who…..said that?' Natsu thought as he started to regain consciousness.

"Yes, we did, but we should have exploited his well-known weakness of motion sickness. We would have lost less of our guys." A low toned male retorted.

"Hah! They were weak. They got what they deserved. I did basically bring him down." The light voiced male spoke with disdain.

'Bring….me down? I had nothing…..left…' Natsu mentally retorted to the light voiced male's bragging.

"Fool! The salamander would have wiped the floor with any of us, even the master in a one on one fight. He just wasn't lucky that the numbers were stacked against him. Know your place. You got that hit in because he had no way to defend himself." The low toned male growled, getting annoyed. Sure he was an enemy of the Salamander, but that didn't mean he didn't have respect for the man. He knew fairly well that the dragon slayer was much stronger than him or anyone in his guild and took down almost two thirds of their numbers before finally dropping.

"Feh! Fine! Don't bathe in the glory of taking down one of Fairy Tail's Mightiest mages." The light voiced male stormed off.

"Heh…you're basically….my enemy…yet I… like you already…" Natsu slowly said, still quite weak.

This took the Low Toned Male by surprise, the enemy heard his conversation. Therefore hearing his praise of the Salamander. "You heard that, did you?"

Natsu got a look at this man, he had a fair tan, slightly more muscular than himself, but just as tall. The way his eyes stared sharply were as if emotions were not meant for his face.

"Heheh. Yep." Natsu managed a smile, even in his condition and situation.

"Hmph. This guild of ours is quite new, though in my time here I find that many here have no respect or honor for their opponents. Stooping so low as to outnumber a man 100 to 1 just to capture him and use him for ransom." The Low Voiced Male explained.

"Ransom. I see." Natsu simply stated and soon found himself lost to unconsciousness.

'My place is not here. That is made clear to me now. Now what do I do?' The Low Toned Male thought.

* * *

_**Back At Fairy Tail**_

"…now if you want the Salamander alive, you will give us 100,000,000 Jewels! That or he is as good as dead!" and the imaged faded away, with the letter itself crumpling to dust. The air now getting dense in a now mindlessly angry guild.

**I hate cliffhangers, but I find enjoyment in writting them. I'll be blunt. I did not really plan for Natsu to be captured. When I got the to part where I came up for what would happen with Natsu during his 'mission' I just started writting out a fight scene that would end in capture and then I found no difficulty in continuing with it, so I went with it. So tell me, do you like I how iterated these two 'new guy's the Light Voiced Male and the Low Toned Male? What do you think will happen next? Don't worry. I don't either.T ell me what you think of the chapter. Leave a review. Even if you don't like the chapter, tell me why. I shall see you guys later!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Alright. I put a bit more time into this. So hopefully if you thought the last chapter didn't flow too well, then this will hopefully go better. Mostly because I had a friend do a read through it for me. Anyways, this chapter is kind of dialogue heavy. So hopefully you guys don't mind. Hope you enjoy the chapter**

**Reference:**

**Talking - "Quotations"**

**Thinking - 'Contractions'**

**Flashback - _Italics_**

**Spells, Important people or objects - Bold**

**_A Return Worth Waiting For_**

**_Chapter 10_**

'Should I do it? I no longer feel this is where I belong. These people don't have any form of honor or sense of fairness. Ganging up on 1 person with a small army just for some ransom money? Pathetic…But, he is my enemy by definition. Who's to say he won't beat me up and try to turn me into the authorities when he's finished?' These thoughts haunted the 'Low Voiced Male'. By all rights, their guild was an 'official' guild, but recent events could cause them to lose that privilege and become a dark guild. These thoughts conflicted the man who was stuck guarding the dragon slayer as a form of 'punishment'. How did he get stuck doing this? He refused to be a part of the ambush that resulted in the capture of the Salamander.

Scavenger's Hide. That was the name of his guild. It did not fit what they did, let alone was it even a good name. 'I hate the name of this guild. A better one would be something like….well, I don't know what it would be called.' His resolved solidified, he decided his decision: '**Free Natsu Dragneel'**. With his decision set, he turned back to the room where the rose haired mage was being suspended by magic restricting chains attached at the wrist. 'Here goes nothing.'

* * *

_**Back to….?**_

Running. Lots of running. Why? Who wouldn't when a good friend or teammate was being held captive? A three man team was running at quite steady pace. Why not take the train? Was it due to the wait time? No available trips? Anger overtaking reason? No one knows. The three man team comprised of S-Class Erza Scarlet and two S-Class candidates, Gray Fullbuster, and Elfman Strauss. Their mission? Bring Natsu home safely. How far away were they still? Give or take an hour. Right now it was calm, but it was about to become hectic. Their plan? Search and Destroy. Search for Natsu and destroy the guild's base of operations as compensation for taking a member of their guild captive.

Gray briefly picked up his pace so as to catch up with Erza who was in the league. "Erza! How exactly do you want us to do this?!" He asked loudly.

Erza didn't bother even looking back at the raven haired mage, she simply stated "I don't so much care how we do it, just so long as **he** can get home." With that, she simply refused to talk anymore to put more focus into reaching the location of Natsu's disappearance.

Within an hour the group ended up at the forest in which Natsu disappeared. Seeing the multiple burn marks and bodies all making a steady line deeper into the forest.

"Looks like he was trying to flee but had to fight to do so." Gray observed.

"Wow, what a man! Taking down all these people!" Elfman roared. Earning a small glare from Erza for talking about being a man.

"Elfman, stop talking about manliness! At least until we can locate and rescue Natsu. Now, as we can tell, it was not a powerful enemy that took Natsu down. That much is clear. What is likely is that he was overwhelmed by sheer numbers alone. Whether that means he was too exhausted to fight back or he was piled upon by mass numbers and could not resist is not of concern at this point." Erza stated, pausing for a brief moment, but continued, "Alright, look for signs to which may point where he was taken."

Gray and Elfman looked around as Erza looked for anyone who may be alive, however unlikely it may be. Perhaps she would have luck as to find someone who was simply rendered unconscious for an extended time. However, no such luck was given to her, she was simply lost as to where to find the Salamander. Gray on the other hand, had better luck. He found blood. Dried blood, but still blood. Was this a hint to where he went? No. Probably not.

"Any luck yet Elfman? Gray?" Erza asked, clearly hiding desperation and concern behind the stoic expression on her face.

"Nothing here. How unmanly of me." Elfman lamented hanging his head down low.

"Nothing much here. Found a small blood trail; though I doubt it really points anywhere." Gray answered.

Erza perked up slightly because of this. "Blood? Show me!" She basically yelled at a possible chance to find the rose haired dragon slayer.

Gray motioned for Erza to follow him a small ways, beginning at the end of the bodies and burnt trees. Gray was right. There was indeed a small trail of blood, barely noticeable since it's dried and starting to crumble away.

"Good. This may lead us to him." Erza said preparing to follow the trail.

"Wait! How do we know this will lead us to where Natsu is being held? It could simply being an enemy's blood!" Gray complained, not because he didn't care about Natsu, but because this could simply be a wild goose chase.

"That's a fair point. But look around, at the damage done, there are burn marks everyone, the bodies have burns everywhere, yet no blood almost anywhere except here. Natsu was clearly using his Fire Dragon Slaying magic the whole time." Erza explained, letting it sink into Gray.

Elfman spoke up, "Ok. What point are you trying to make Erza?" slightly surprising Erza that he didn't add something about being a man.

"Well. Assuming he used his magic the whole time, which I'm confident he would seeing at the situation he was placed in, the fire from his blows would cauterize any wounds that would be given to his opponents. Blood would only be drawn after the wounds start to heal over and the 'wounded' would break the scab. The other possibility would be the opponent was punched in the face area such as the lip or nose. Both these possibility while they could have happened, would not have drawn this much blood let along for this long. This kind of blood would come from a more serious wound. Seeing as there's no bodies following this trail could mean that A, They dragged off Natsu as he was wounded and beaten, which further helps my theory that this is not the one of the enemies' comrades they took back. Natsu would have normally closed his wounds with his own fire unless he was unable to do so. Option B is that the ambushers carried, or dragged, their companion, or companions, back to their base. Seeing as they simply left the rest of their wounded/dead here, I see the first possibility more likely." Erza expertly analyzed, leaving the other two in awe. If the situation were not serious, Erza would most likely have laughed at their reactions. However, time was of the essence. Not waiting any longer for a reaction, Erza simply walked off into the forest following the trail, with a Gray and Elfman to start following, still trying to get over how Erza expertly analyzed just a trail of blood.

Following along the 'trail' for a time, Erza, as well as Gray and Elfman, noticed that the trail was getting smaller and smaller until it simply…ended.

"Great. It was a nice theory Erza, but what now?" Gray asked, quite annoyed. Not at Erza, but at the fact they no longer have a trail to go off of.

"Well. I'd say that while the trail has ended, there are still no bodies lying nearby. Meaning that the person they were bring back was of importance whether alive or dead. Dead being that their comrade was a influential person to their group and wanted to give proper burial or alive being that they noticed the wound on their comrade or Natsu and saw that at the rate they were heading, said person, or Natsu, would die of blood-loss before arriving, therefore sealing the wound to slow blood flow to a minimum or stop it completely. This is especially possible given that the message said Natsu is alive and our guild is particularly protective of each other. This is further supported by the numbers that faced Natsu, meaning that no one in particular in this group of people is strong, so they kept him alive, lest they invoke our wrath." Erza explained once again. Also once again, amazing Gray and Elfman. She was not like this a year ago.

"My solution, or rather, our best bet, is to follow the direction in which the blood trail led, and hope it takes us remotely close to their location. The trail was mostly a straight line so continuing on straight from where it ends is a good idea. Come on! We have to make haste." Erza finished starting to run off, leaving the S-Class candidates to themselves.

"What did she do during her one-year trip?" Gray asked rather bemused.

"As a man, I have no idea." Elfman answered. With that the two soon started to run after the scarlet haired woman.

* * *

_**With Natsu**_

Natsu was idly looking at the floor ahead of him. Being suspended by chains connected to his wrist left him with little to do to pass the time. He was wondering if his guild was out looking for him. They were notoriously protective of their 'family' and vengeful if any of them came to harm. It would probably apply to him as well as he was a big part of the family despite each and every one of the members, no matter how anonymous or new, were equally important to their 'family'. Maybe it was because he was someone many looked up to, such as Macao's son Romeo.

These thoughts, were what passed his time. How much time has passed? He didn't know; let alone know how long he has been held. But this time, he was broken from this thought when he heard a steel door open and shut followed by some heavier sounding footsteps. He continued to hear these footsteps until he saw a pair of black boots in his vision. He looked up, taking in the appearance of the person who came to 'visit' him. Black boots, dark gray pants, dark purple t-shirt, tanned skin, a slightly more muscular build than himself, and a face; a face that lacked emotions, with a set of sharp staring eyes.

"I see you're back. Starting to miss me?" Natsu joked, despite his situation.

A small smirk appeared on the face features. Apparently his face could contain emotions, if only barely. "Ha, you wish. No. My coming here has another purpose."

"Hmm, you know, you never told me your name despite all the times you've visited." Natsu stated, rather curious as to what name his jailer had.

'The Low Voiced Male' said nothing, until saying, "My name, as of right now is not important." He then reached up with a key to Natsu's bindings and began unlocking them.

"What are you doing?" Natsu asked surprised.

"What do you think I'm doing?" The Low Voiced Male asked.

"Probably moving me to another cell or taking me to my death." Natsu assumed.

"No." was all the man said as he finished unshackling Natsu, letting the rose haired mage fall to the ground, waiting for him to get up. "I'm setting you free. Now, let me get you out of here and back to your guild."

**That finishes this chapter. I do hope you guys like it. I have a small idea as to what I'll have happen next, ****_Spoiler - Natsu and 'Low Voiced' Male will simply walk right__ out._ I'll let you figure out how. On the subject of the 'Low Voiced Male', Anyone got suggestions for a name? Preferably a less common one. I really suck at naming characters. Anyways, if you like it, Leave a review/comment, perhaps favorite and follow the story. If you have questions or suggestions, feel free to drop them off in the reviews or send me a Personal Message. I'll do my best to respond.**


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